The invention relates to an item handling system, for example for counting or sorting documents or coins.
The invention is primarily concerned with systems for handling documents of value such as banknotes but is also applicable to other types of document such as tokens, cheques, postal orders, tickets and the like as well as coins.
Many products exist for counting and sorting documents such as the De La Rue 2800 machine. In these machines, the documents are loaded into an input station, transported past one or more detectors which sense respective characteristics of the documents and then, depending upon the outcome of the characteristics which are detected, the documents are fed to an appropriate one of the output stations. In some circumstances, the transport may be stopped on the detection of a particular type of document and where this facility is provided, it is possible to utilize a single output station. Thus, for example, in the case of banknotes, these can be sorted on the basis of denomination, series, fitness, authenticity and the like into different output stations. Alternatively, a particular type of document such as a particular denomination or series can be outsorted with all other documents being fed to a cull station or the machine may simply be stopped on detecting such a document.
One problem with these types of handling system is the need to incorporate into each system complex software and hardware to enable the characteristics to be determined. Thus, typically, the detectors will sense certain characteristics of an item such as reflectance or transmittance and these properties will then be processed by an on-board processor to determine the denomination of the item being transported. This information is then used by the on-board processor to control the further transport of the item (as described above) and also to increment appropriate counters with the value of the item so that ultimately a total value can be obtained of the batch which has been processed. A further problem exists in that to provide the required range of machine operating modes and recognition, validation and authentication processes, the facilities for the operator to switch between processes requires more memory and less user friendly operator interfaces facilities. Alternatively, it involves more regular updating of machines with new operating configurations, new recognition pattern/authentication details etc. and operators to be regularly updated with the changes to the machines operating facilities. This requires either physically changing memory chips or individually reprogramming resident memory in each machine, a time consuming operation. Additionally, features such as error reporting, machine performance logging, throughput, operator performance and auditing required by the users are contributing to the problems. Furthermore, whilst the requirements exist to make the machines more sophisticated there exists at the same time the requirements that the sizes of sorting/counting machines are maintained or made smaller.
In accordance with the present invention, an item handling system comprises:
a) an item processing device having input and output stations, a transport system for transporting items from the input station to the output station(s), one or more detectors for sensing one or more respective characteristics of items transported from the input to the output stations, and a communication device coupled with the or each detector for transmitting signals related to the output of the or each detector; and,
b) a remote monitoring device including a processor, and a communication device for receiving signals transmitted by the communication device of the item processing device, the processor being adapted to monitor the received signals and to generate an output related to the items being transported.
We have devised a new type of item handling system in which the item processing device is significantly simplified as compared with present day devices, some or all of the signal processing being transferred to the remote monitoring device. This has a number of advantages. Firstly, the item processing devices themselves have a much simpler and cheaper construction since it is not necessary to provide a full on-board processing capability on each device. Secondly, it allows an operator to utilize the item processing device from a remote location which may often be more convenient. Thirdly, in some situations, more than one item processing device can be linked to the same remote monitoring device again leading to significant flexibility.
Likewise, more than one remote monitoring device can be linked with one processing device. In addition it provides a potentially sophisticated interface with world wide communication networks to enable it to receive suitably addressed updated information such as programme and memory content updates from anywhere in the world and to send out suitably addressed information concerning such items as sheet processing rates, serial numbers, magnetic or optical readable information, image processing, OCR information, batch auditing, machine performance, faults occurring etc. to anywhere in the world. With the allocation of each mobile to an operator, i.e. identified with an operator, the source of data downloaded to each item processing device can be identified, just as data from each item processing device is identified. A significant advantage from using the hand held portable remote monitoring device exists in the facility to connect the item processing device(s) to the network only when they are required.
The distribution of intelligence between the item processing device and the remote monitoring device can be varied in a number of ways. In the simplest approach, the signals output by the or each detector are transmitted in substantially raw form to the remote monitoring device for further processing. These signals may undergo some preprocessing within the item processing device, for example to remove noise and to convert to digital form. However, all intelligence, particularly relating to the determination of features such as authenticity, denomination and fitness are carried out by the remote monitoring device processor.
In a second approach, some analysis of the signals from the detector(s) is carried out by a processor provided in the item processing device. Thus, the item handling device processor may perform an initial analysis of the detector output and generate corresponding output signals for transmission to the remote monitoring device. This initial analysis may comprise, in the case of documents, a pattern matching or correlation algorithm in which signals representing transmittance or reflectance properties of pixels of each document define test data which is then matched with sets of prestored data representing master patterns. The outcome of this correlation process which will simply provide for each set of prestored data a measure of the similarity existing between it and the test data is then supplied to the remote monitoring device which uses the measures of similarity to classify (identify by best fit) the document. The advantage of this is that the amount of data transmitted is reduced but with the penalty that some on-board processing is required by the document processing device.
The remote monitoring device can in some cases simply receive signals from the item processing device, analyse them and provide an output which is stored or displayed. For example, in the case of banknotes, the remote monitoring device may increment a count of the total value or number of banknotes being transported. In a preferred approach, however, the remote monitoring device processor is adapted to respond to the received signals to carry out a predetermined analysis so as to determine information about each item and to provide a corresponding output control signal which is supplied to the item processing device. Thus, the remote monitoring device not only receives signals from the item processing device but in response to them sends control signals to the item processing device. These control signals may be used to activate one or more diverters within the transport system or to halt operation of the device when, for example, an unrecognisable item is being transported. They may also be used to activate an indication, for example an illumination or audible signal, to the local operator about the status of the machine.
The item processing device and remote monitoring device may be connected via a hard wired system but preferably they communicate via a wireless link such as an infrared link. In addition, or alternatively, communication between them could be achieved via one or more of the Internet, cable, satellite, or telephone networks.
The remote monitoring device may comprise a desktop computer such as a PC but conveniently comprises a handheld, portable device such as a laptop computer, palm computer, PDA, a mobile telephone with on-board processing capability which can then be carried by the operator, or Internet physical or virtual server.
As previously mentioned above, although each item handling system may comprise an item processing device and a corresponding remote monitoring device, it is also possible to provide a plurality of item processing devices and a single remote monitoring device which can communicate with each item processing device. This enables a single operator conveniently to control the plurality of item processing devices simultaneously. This will typically involve the machine being provided with a unique address contained in its memory, and the machine responding to instructions transmitted from the palm computer or other remote monitoring device so addressed. Likewise, information sent from the machine will be identified as coming from that machine. The plurality of item processing devices handled may be of different types, for example single pocket document counters and two or three pocket document sorters.